I'm not really sure what to make of the current thread on defining
a family. It reminds me of the family commission put together by former
president Carter. They never got anywhere because they got bogged down in
trying to define "family". Why they didn't simply use a dictionary is
beyond me.
A family is a collection of individuals related by ancestry or
marriage.
A marriage is a legal union of one man and one woman as husband and
wife.
If you want to argue with these definitions all you end up doing is
arguing with God since He established both institutions.
You can go on from here to talk about other living arrangements and
situations but you cannot apply the terms family or marriage to them.
I marvel to think that scientists, who depend on careful
definitions and conventions to carry out their work, should have such
difficulty with basic terminology.

Mike Jaqua
7245 Balfour Drive
Kalamazoo, MI 49024 <------------[Note change in zip code.]
(616) 327-6570
pmjaqua@pwinet.upj.com
pmjaqua@am.pnu.com <---(New e-mail address. Old one still works. This new
one may change again in the next few months.
Eventually it will replace the old address.)